Bob

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

More Media Failure in the Election

Since his inauguration, Trump has ordered not just the global gag rule, but a non-defense federal hiring freeze that will disproportionately harm veterans (whom Trump claimed to champion on the campaign trail). His vague demand that cabinet secretaries begin easing enforcement of Affordable Care Act has yet to impact federal policy, but it has the potential to loose chaos in the Obamacare marketplaces, and begin the law’s unwinding. Trump’s pick for FCC chair, Ajit Pai, wants to take a “weed whacker” to net neutrality.

Like the gag rule, none of this comes as a surprise. Most presidents sign orders that change executive branch policy shortly after they take office. When partisan control of the White House changes, the policy swings can be pretty severe. But they are generally well understood within the political class.

In this election more than in most, these shifts were not relayed to voters. This is nearly as true of more visible policy fights. Trump was able to run a populist campaign, in part, because his and Republicans’ undisguised desire to deregulate Wall Street was subordinate to a focus on Trump’s false promises to battle the global elite and Hillary Clinton’s speeches to financial companies. Trump promised to repeal Obamacare, but the fact that many of his supporters benefit from that law, and are now scared of what he might do, only became major news stories once his power to rescind their health insurance was locked in.